Spid 



closes the inner door against the intruder. Should this 

 ruse fail, the spider ascends to the second arm of its home 

 and pulls up the door behind it with its fore-feet. In the 

 event of the intruder being an enemy, the spider has 

 reached its last line of retreat ; on the other hand, should 

 some unwary insect have entered the burrow, the ever- 

 alert spider will open its inner door, seize its victim and 

 devour it in peace. 



At certain periods of the year it is quite impossible 

 to walk along a country road without one's being aware 

 of the presence of innumerable fine silken threads floating 

 in the air. Cobwebs they are often and wrongly termed. 

 Gossamer is the name by which these threads are known. 

 A warm autumn day when scarcely a breeze disturbs the 

 air is the time to encounter gossamer in the greatest 

 quantity. As with pearls and many other of Nature's 

 possessions, a great deal of imagination was woven round 

 this substance in early days. It seemed the custom in 

 less matter-of-fact times than our own to invent some 

 pretty story to account for matters that were not quite 

 obvious. Chaucer frankly admitted that he could not 

 account for the origin of gossamer ; Spenser thought it 

 was dew. All who wrote of gossamer were very wide of 

 the mark in their surmises. Gossamer is merely the silk 

 of young spiders, and silk spun for a special purpose, to 

 act as a parachute and transport its maker to some other 

 district. 



On a day when the warm air, by rising upwards, assists 

 in the operations, young spiders of many species, wolf, 

 crab and jumping spiders, may be seen scrambling, with 

 eager haste, to the top of various vantage points. After 

 aimlessly wandering about for a short time a halt is 

 called, and the young creature raises himself on tiptoe 

 and points the tip of his body up on high ; at the same 

 time strands of the finest silk are given off by the 

 spinnerets. When sufficient silk has been spun the 

 little creature relaxes its hold and is carried far into 



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